By The Spiritual Explorer | Published 24 July, 2015
Dear Spiritual Explorer: I have been trying to lose weight forever.Can you give me some advice? Rosalind R., Palo Alto, CA
Losing Weight, the Inner Weigh
Dear Rosalind: I am not going to suggest some fad diet that’s currently buzzing around. However, I am going to let you in on the secret of losing weight, at least in a permanent way. And for that I have consulted a friend of mine who tells me that she has discovered the permanent way to losing weight. Even to use that word “permanent” is radical, since most people if they are honest, think about losing weight only temporarily so that they can resume their bad habits.
Losing Weight the Inner Weigh
My friend, whom I will refer to as Elizabeth, has consented to speak with me even though she is currently writing a book on weight loss. She calls it ‘Losing Weight the Inner Weigh.” Elizabeth has had a weight problem since she was 17. At that time she couldn’t understand why she was unable to lose weight even though from that time on she had attempted numerous diets. However, none of them worked. In retrospect, she saw her efforts of losing weight as just quick fixes. Losing weight became an endless cycle of different diets for the purposes of attracting a current love interest in her life or a special occasion where she was required to fit into an outfit smaller than her current size. Sound familiar?
The secret of losing weight
Finally, Elizabeth, at the ripe age of 56, tells me that she finally found the secret of losing weight. She told me that the true secret of weight loss was not in at last discovering a particular diet, but the fact that she had awakened to the realization she was carrying weight, not only physically, but spiritually, emotionally and mentally. She told me that she finally awoke to the fact that there were many things in her life that were unpleasant and “heavy.” This heaviness translated into a heavier body, a body that endured the unkindness of others and her own inability to feed something within herself that was actually starving for love. She laughed when she told me that she had initially lost 200 pounds. When I asked her how she accomplished that monumental task of losing weight, she told me that she had finally left a very unhappy relationship with a husband who incidentally weighed 200 pounds. We both laughed about that.
Letting go as the secret to losing weight
Elizabeth told me that after being able to let this husband go, there was a certain strength that came into her life that eventually filtered down into her looking very closely at what weighed her down in her life. It was no longer a matter of just seeking remedies for losing weight, but she began an investigation into what else in her life was weighing her down. Elizabeth made the startling discovery of realizing that the inner weight she carried around was the foundation for the outer weight she manifested outwardly. As she awoke more and more to how she not only allowed but unconsciously created relationships that were unkind to herself, she began to impose another kind of discipline into her life. She told me she began cleaning the emotional closet of her life, getting rid of those elements that contributed to her depression and made her turn to food to mitigate the pain she suffered. In short, she began to woo joy.
Losing weight for Elizabeth became a spiritual exercise as well as a physical exercise. She told me that when she understood that carrying emotional and mental burdens contributed to her not being able to lose weight, that realization was enough to eat differently. She began to eat more consciously, realizing that she wanted to love herself and give to herself in ways that she had formerly ignored.
She further confided to me that losing weight was not a matter of will power anymore, because that essentially did not work. Losing weight became more of a won’t power—a true desire to cease and desist from things that no longer nourished and nurtured her, both inwardly and outwardly. It was like a different mindset was inhabiting her body.
No longer wanting to lose weight temporarily, she realized finally that losing weight was a long term proposition and had to be consistent with her own spiritual progress. New harmony came into Elizabeth’s life in the new choices she was able to make which then translated to making better food choices. As a result, Elizabeth told me that she began to lose weight, but that it was secondary to the freedom and joy she felt from the new choices in her life.
In conclusion, I would say, relying upon Elizabeth’s sage advice, that you must look at your life inwardly and to be as concerned with the baggage you carry as you have been with your outward appearance. If you only lose weight for superficial reasons, you will forever find yourself in the same repetitive cycle of seeking the perfect diet. If it becomes a matter of loving and taking care of your inward self, you are on your way to a permanent solution to losing weight.
Good luck to you, Rosalind, on hopefully your new adventure.
If you have a question about “losing weight,” or anything else, you can write me at Ask The Spiritual Explorer.
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